


Love Takes Three

by obviouslyelementary



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Angst, Biphobia, Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, Drugs, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Goth Oswald, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Jock James, M/M, Multi, Nerd Edward, Physical Abuse, Queer Themes, Romance, Secret Relationship, nerd jock goth trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-16 15:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18694546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obviouslyelementary/pseuds/obviouslyelementary
Summary: James Gordon is the school's golden boy, perfect student, great football and soccer player, the pride of his family.Oswald Cobblepot is the school's minority, a lover of theater, all things queer and a goth at every sense of the word.Edward Nygma is the school's nerd, amazing scores, incredible intelligence, completely passionate of all things science.Somehow, those worlds collide, and they find themselves in a situation that neither could ever imagine would happen.





	1. Blackmail

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is based in an rp I am currently writing with my friend @kourank-nerdyrobots on tumblr. It may follow the rp, it may not, but the idea was thought up by us both. In any case, I hope you all like it!

Another evening spent on waiting.

Gotham High was quite the campus. A nice building filled with rooms, a curriculum filled with activities, a big football field next to a soccer field, a bunch of science fairs, theater presentations, student choirs, groups and so on. A typical American high school.

None of that mattered much for James Gordon, however. At that moment, he only cared about staying very still over the bleachers, opening a beer he had sneaked inside the school and taking a sip. The sun wasn't too close to the horizon yet, which was a good sign. Training usually went up to five in the afternoon but that day, because of his stupid coach, they finished off at three thirty, and were allowed to leave.

The awkward part was telling his friends why he wouldn't go home at that moment with them. He made up some excuse of having to wait until five so his father could show up or something, and it was clear that they didn't truly believe in him, but he didn't care. He just waved goodbye, took a quick shower and waited by the bleachers as he always did. Usually, he waited only fifteen minutes, but since training ended early, he had been waiting for almost two hours now.

Apparently, theater lessons were a bit late that Thursday.

He took another swig of the beer, sighing and looking up at the blue sky. That was when he heard the squeaking of the old bleachers and allowed himself to smile. Finally. His suffering came to an end. He hated waiting.

"Did you ditch training today, Gordon?" he heard the nosy, high pitched voice making way into his ears and sighed. His head lowered down again, and his smile turned into a smirk just as he came closer, stepping on the last step before sitting next to Jim.

"Did you forget your lines, Cobblepot?" he asked, handing him the beer. Oswald stared at him unamused, and reached out for it, grabbing the bottle and taking a long swing, sighing and licking his lips. "You never take this long to show up."

"Teacher wanted us to redo a scene. I wasn't in it but you know, solidarity and all" Oswald shrugged, giving the beer back and reaching for his pocket. He took out a pack of cigarettes, and Jim felt even better. "Want one?"

"Do you have to ask?" Jim asked, grabbing one and putting it in his mouth, before reaching for his pocket for his lighter and lighting it up. Oswald smirked at him, and Jim chuckled through the cigar, before taking a long drag and feeling the narcotics spreading through his lungs. He was pretty sure the effect was more psychological than physical by now, but didn't mean it was any less satisfying. Oswald reached for the cigar after he dragged, and pulled it out of Jim's mouth, taking a drag for himself and following it with a sip of the beer. The two of them took the moment to savor the bitter taste and then blew the smoke together, staring at the horizon in silence.

A cold breeze blew through them, and James sighed, turning his head to face Oswald again. Oswald took another drag, another sip of the beer, and kept his eyes in the horizon, allowing Jim to daydream a little. His eyes explored the entirety of Oswald's face, his sharp crooked nose, his pink lips around the cigar and around the bottle, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed the drink, his eyes blinking, long lashes flickering. His make up was worn out today, just a faint mark of the eyeliner that laid there in the morning, a light purple tint of the lipstick he usually wore for school, freckles coming through the concealer that was fading off.

Fuck... Jim felt his throat close and his heart hammer inside his chest. Oswald was so fucking beautiful.

"Take a picture. It lasts longer" Oswald said, without looking back at him, but smirking anyway. He took another drag, another drink, and turned to look at Jim, his eyes sparkling with their usual malice. Jim licked his lips, and shrugged, moving closer.

"I don't need it to last any longer" he said, lifting his hand and taking the cigarette from Oswald's mouth. He put it in his own, took a drag and blew it, then took another, and threw the cigarette under the bleachers, blowing the smoke away. "I can stare at you for as long as I want."

"About that, I'll begin charging you" Oswald said, in a teasing tone, and moved closer. "Specially because that cigar still had like two drags in it."

"I want your mouth free" Jim whispered, and reached out, grabbing Oswald by his large black coat, pressing their lips together in an urgent kiss. Fuck. He had been waiting all day for this. For that very moment. The feeling of Oswald's soft lips against his own, the taste of his tongue exploring his mouth, and Oswald seemed just as eager despite pretending he wasn't. His hand let go from the beer and it fell to the ground and then down under the bleachers, just so he could slide his fingers through James' hair and pull him closer.

They were so greedy. So needy. It was toxic, what they had, just like the beer they drank, the drugs they took... so deliciously dangerous. And for many reasons, that was. Not only because James was Gotham High's golden boy, perfect student, jock and lady killer, and Oswald was Gotham High's diversity, difference, minority, with his goth looks and his passion for theater and the fact that he rubbed in everyone's face that he was as gay and queer as they came.

It went beyond that... but at that very moment it was fine just pretending those titles didn't exist.

James' arms wrapped around Oswald's waist and Oswald moved, climbing on his lap, pressing their bodies together and making both of the gasp against each other's mouths. The bitter taste of the beer and the sickening smell of the cigarette mixed up with James' cheap shampoo and Oswald's fancy cologne, and they kissed again, deep and wet, teeth clicking together and tongues moving way too much, until Oswald had enough of it, his hands gripping onto Jim's hair and making him groan and his head lean backwards. Oswald moved his head down, kissing Jim's neck, biting the skin and sucking to create small marks that would be gone in the next morning. Jim used it to slide his hands down Oswald's ass, squeezing it and pulling him closer, and both of them moaned as their crotches lined up and pressed together.

It was so fucking dirty, so raw and desperate, neither of them fully understanding where all of that came from but loving every second of it.

That was, until they heard the sound of a camera taking a picture and both of them froze, hearing someone gasp and squeal, and the bleachers squeak loudly before a loud bang was heard.

They turned their heads towards the sound, and both narrowed his eyes as someone stood up, rubbing their head and turning around to look at them.

"Nygma?" Oswald asked, confused, as the nerd boy fixed his glasses, his cheeks bright pink as he put his phone away. Jim felt his blood boil and a cold fear settle in his stomach.

Edward Nygma, the nerdiest boy of all Gotham High, was standing a few feet away from them, after having taken one or more pictures of them making out.

What a good fucking day.

"Delete it. Now" Jim growled, gently pushing Oswald away and standing up. Oswald stood next to him, but Nygma just shook his head, crossing his arms.

"I won't. And even if I did, it's already in the cloud, you can only delete it with my password" he said, as firm as a stupid ass nerd could when he was in front of the two coolest kids at school. Oswald rolled his eyes next to Jim and placed a hand over his chest before walking closer to Edward.

"Alright Nygma, what do you want?" he asked, tilting his head as he walked down the stairs. Edward looked at him surprised and Oswald sighed. "Come on, no one takes pictures without wanting something. If you wanted to tell people, you would have just told. You took pictures because you want blackmail, so you obviously want something from us. What is it?"

Jim walked after Oswald, standing behind him. Personally he wanted to punch the hell out of Nygma, but Oswald seemed to be handling the situation very well. Edward looked between them nervously and then swallowed, nodding.

"Y-yeah I want something. I want you two to help me become cool."

Jim frowned slowly, tilting his head, while Oswald just stared at Edward. Then, he snorted.

"Alright" Oswald said between another snort and a chuckle. "Now something plausible Nygma."

"That is plausible! You two are the coolest kids at school" he complained, crossing his arms, and James shook his head.

"And why would you want to be cool in the first place? No one makes fun of you" he said, confused. No one made fun of Nygma besides... Harvey, maybe, but Harvey made fun of everyone. Edward looked around nervously and then sighed.

"I want to invite someone to go to the prom with me... but they will never say yes if I'm... well me" he said, leaning back against the railings of the bleachers. Jim rolled his eyes, annoyed, but Oswald tapped Edward's shoulder.

"Sorry to be one of those people but if they don't want to go with you by you, they don't deserve you" he said, calmly, and Edward looked at him, frowning and slapping his hand away.

"No. You're just wanting to get away from the situation" he said and stood face to face with them again. "Listen. I won't show this picture to anyone and I will delete it after you two help me get a pair to prom alright?"

"Alright but what if no one wants to go with you anyway?" James asked, walking closer to him. "Are you going to show that picture to anyone?"

"Yes. So you better do a good job" Edward said, firmly, and looked between them. "So, when can we start?"

"Tomorrow at my house is fine for me" Oswald said, shrugging, and James sighed. Fuck. He really had no choice in this matter, did he?

"Tomorrow is fine" he agreed, and Edward smiled.

"Good! Give me your address, I'll be there at three sharp" he said, handing Oswald his phone, and Oswald rolled his eyes and typing down the address. "Thank you! See you two tomorrow" Nygma said happily and walked away, leaving the two of them alone again.

James sighed, rubbing his face, and Oswald poked him on the shoulder.

"Hey don't worry" he said, a calm smile on his face, "We will help him and he won't show anything to anyone okay? Relax."

"I hope so Oswald. If my father finds out..." James whispered, shaking his head, but Oswald moved closer to him and pulled him down, stealing a kiss from him that left James feeling like jelly. God what Oswald did to him.

"Don't worry. Your dad won't find out" he whispered, and smirked, pulling him closer. "Now, where were we?"

They had just been caught, but whatever.

Jim leaned in and pressed Oswald against the railings, kissing him again and sliding his hands down to his ass, while Oswald wrapped his arms around Jim's neck and pulled him closer.

He wouldn't be able to live without Oswald anyway.

So fuck it.


	2. Meeting

The next day came in a rush. The classes went by fast, and the training... well they were kept for longer than usual because of his coach's last day of problems, so they were stuck in school until around three thirty, which wasn't James' best plan of action, but he would have to deal with what he got.

In a perfect world, he would have been allowed to leave at one with Oswald, went to his house and made out with him until Nygma showed up. In the real world, he was one hour late for the meeting and Nygma was probably already in there, making Oswald's life a living hell.

He knocked on the door, panting loudly from running. He didn’t even have time to shower, he was disgusting, sweaty and smelly but oh well, it would have to do. He didn’t like to show up at Oswald's like that, his family had so much class, but they never seemed to mind.

Oswald opened the door after a minute, and sighed in relief seeing Jim there. He opened up wider and James made his way inside, seeing a awkward looking Nygma just sitting on the couch, drinking juice and eating some cookies. When he saw Jim he smiled, and stood up, leaving the food and drink behind.

"I thought you weren't showing up" he said, and Jim looked at him, annoyed.

"For you I wouldn't. But I don't have any choice do I?" he said, letting his bag and coat fall off his shoulders to the ground and then sighing. "Alright. How do we start this... makeover?"

"Well I might be gay but I'm not usually good with this type of stuff" Oswald said, shaking his head. "So I'm leaning on the 'who' rather than on the 'what' of the question. For us to get you a date, we need to know who are your options, because only then we can mold you to their liking."

"This sounds a lot like those... cheap high school movies plots" Jim mumbled, looking between them, to which Oswald agreed with a hum and a smirk. "Alright Nygma, who do you want to impress?"

"I... have a few options" Edward said, fixing his glasses. He was clearly nervous. "But you have to promise you won't tell anyone about this okay?"

"Scout's honor" Oswald said with a smirk and a snort that fooled no one. Edward frowned at him and James just chuckled, pushing Oswald on the shoulder.

"Shut up Oz" he said, and turned back to Edward. "We promise. Now spill it out Nygma."

"Very well" Edward nodded and took a breath. "So first is Kristen..."

"Kringle?" Oswald asked, tilting his head. "She has a boyfriend."

"That's already a no-no. Not happening" Jim agreed, and Edward looked at them furrowing his eyebrows.

"Can I finish?" he asked, a bit angry, and both nodded. "Alright so Kristen Kringle was my first option, but since she has a boyfriend I guess she's out" he said, and then sighed. "The rest are Isabella Kringle, her sister, Lee Thompkins and Lucius Fox. They are the people I want to go to prom with."

"Alright, at least it isn't Barbara or Sophia so we are off with a good start" James said, and Oswald agreed with a nod. "Also Fox? Never saw you as men guy."

"You thought he was straight?" Oswald asked, chuckling loudly. "Oh Jim please, no one in this school is straight."

"Oswald has a point" Edward said, nodding to Jim, who couldn't help but feel his cheeks burn a little before he shook his head.

"Whatever. So. Lee is out of the picture" he said, and before Edward could say something, he raised his hand. "She is my prom date, that's why."

"Oh you're taking Thompkins to prom?" Oswald asked, smirking and poking Jim on the ribs. "Would you look at that. Local good looking nerd and perfect golden boy off into prom... you guys will get to be queen and king, I'm sure."

"Oswald quit the sarcasm" James rolled his eyes, turning to face him. "You know she's my friend. And I can't take Barbara since one, I broke up with her so she's still mad at me, and second, she has a girlfriend now. Lee is the only good option I have, and we are going as friends."

"I'm not jealous James" Oswald said, his smirk disappearing and giving space to a scorn. "I know you can't afford being seen with me, don't worry about it. Besides we are not dating, and I wouldn’t go to the prom anyway. I hate social gatherings."

"Alright" Edward said, turning their attention back to him. "I don't care about your little relationship problems, you are here to help me."

"Well soon I'll be here to punch your face" James said, annoyed again, and Oswald rolled his eyes.

"Take it easy boys, we are all colleagues here. Back to the question at hand. Kristen is not happening, Lee is going with Jim, so we are left with Isabella and Lucius" Oswald said, walking closer to Edward, eyeing him up and down. Ugly sweater, long button up shirt, glasses, ridiculously pushed back hair. "You are already rocking the awful nerd look, so maybe we should go for Fox. He's a nerd, leader of the choir group, and a real sweetheart so your chances are probably bigger with him. Besides he's as gay as they come and gay people have lesser options, unless they go with a friend or whatever."

"Oswald..."

"Quiet Gordon" Oswald snapped back and stood in front of Edward. "Lemme see..." he reached out, removing Edward's glasses and then chuckling. "Well it is like one of those movies where the nerdy girl takes off her glasses and bam, she's three times hotter."

"I see no difference" James said, tilting his head, as Edward looked nervously down at Oswald.

"Should I wear lenses or something?" he asked, and Oswald smirked.

"Absolutely. Also please ditch the sweaters and vests and everything you have like that. They are horrible" he said, touching the grey sweater with a disgusted face. "We can't have you going too far from your comfort zone so I'm guessing some polo shirts would be ideal, so we can throw away the full social shirts and do something more casual, but still... nerdy."

"Polo shirts are the worst" Jim mumbled, stepping closer to Edward as well and tilting his head. "You need a haircut. Like right now. Something that doesn't look like you cut yourself in your basement with dim lights."

"I... is it that bad?" Edward asked, nervous, and both of them nodded.

"Yeah it looks like shit" Oswald said, sliding his fingers through the heavy coat of gel on Edward's hair and messing it up a bit. "This looks already better but you need to ditch the gel for god's sake."

"Alright" Edward said, and then stepped back. "I know what you guys are saying but all of that... kinda requires money which is something I don't have."

"It's fine, I'll buy it" Oswald said, shrugging it off. "My parents are rich anyway. And they give me a good money every month and I never spend it with anything but like... CDs and books so I can buy you some stuff. At least for prom and for day-to-day use."

"I could give you some of my own old polo shirts" James said. "I have a few from when I was younger, they are small on me but you're thin enough, I think they will fit."

"That's... very nice of you two" Edward said, softly, and James chuckled.

"Yeah don't worry about it, remember that we are not doing this for you, but for the picture you have in your phone" he said, dryly, with a cold smile on his face that made Edward swallow thickly.

"Alright don't leave him scared James" Oswald said, shaking his head and walking to Edward. "Lets focus on Fox alright? In a few weeks, with our help, you will have him under your thumb."

"You think?" Edward asked, hopeful, and Oswald smiled.

"I'm sure."

The rest of  the evening they spent sitting on the couch, eating cookies and drinking juice and checking on the internet for clothes that they could buy for Edward. Which ended up being a mess because anything too out there was an instant denial by Ed, while everything to mainly was an instant denial from Oswald and anything too dark was an instant denial for James.

They settled for some baby blue polos, some jeans and the eventual black jacket, a few with some other clothes that they could use to make Edward look better.

It was past seven when Edward left, leaving Oswald and James alone again, finishing off their food and talking about nothing.

"So, when do your parents arrive?" Jim asked, sipping on his juice, and Oswald chuckled to himself.

"They are off for the week. I have the house all to myself" he said, laying down and spreading his limbs on the couch, left leg landing on James' lap. "What about you?"

"Dad is off in a trip... and mom is just at home doing mom stuff" he said, placing his hands over Oswald's leg, massaging it slowly. Their eyes met as they talked, and Oswald opened up a smirk that seemed to go on for miles.

"Well, don't you want to call her? Say you're... staying over?" he asked, suggestively, and James looked at his bag where his phone sat, silent. He let out a soft sigh, and looked back at Oswald, one of his hands sliding up his calf to his inner thigh, just to see him tense up and relax as Jim's hand approached his crotch.

"Do you want me to stay over?" James whispered, in a soft, smooth voice, and Oswald nodded slowly, reaching out for him, holding his arm and pulling him closer.

"Yeah I do" he whispered, other hand gripping onto James' shirt, pulling him over. James straddled Oswald, the hand on his thigh coming up to join the other by Oswald's head, so he wouldn't fall over him. "Stay..."

Oswald's hands moved from his arm and shirt to his back, sliding down to his ass, pulling James down over him and squeezing it shamelessly. Not that James was complaining in the slightest. He just leaned down as well, pressing their chests together, noses brushing in the softest of touches.

"Give me a reason to stay" he whispered, and Oswald gave him a smirk before leaning up, capturing his lips on a kiss that made Jim melt instantaneously. He moved down, pressing their bodies together, kissing him back and grinding against him as Oswald's hands found their way into Jim's back pockets, bringing him closer and sucking on his bottom lip to tease him.

Jim didn't need any other reason to stay.

And he only called his mom when it was already ten.


	3. Lazy Morning

The night was amazing. James woke up in the next morning blissed out, sleeping next to Oswald, having him wrapped around his arms.

It both sent a shiver of happiness and fear down his spine. He sighed, quietly, and moved in closer, brushing his nose against his nape and kissing the soft baby hairs that were growing into their black locks. He smelled like fancy cologne and some type of floral shampoo.

Made Jim's heart flutter.

His arms, wrapped around Oswald's middle, tightened around him and pulled him closer. They were only on their boxers, so he could touch Oswald wherever he wanted, feel his usually cold skin, and how warm it was after a nice night next to him, under fluffy blankets. At the movement though, Oswald moved and yawned, complaining quietly and turning around. He was still asleep, and he just nuzzled against Jim's neck, sighing and going back to soft breaths.

James let out a shaky sigh, closing his eyes. His heart was beating so hard and loud in his ears that he was sure the vibrations would wake Oswald up.

Whenever he laid down like this with Barbara or any of his other girlfriends, he felt so uncomfortable. So weird. Their hair was too long, they always smelled so god damn sweet, it always made him sick, and their usually petite bodies didn't fit in his strong arms, always seeming like there was some empty spaces between them.

Oswald, on the other hand, rested nicely against him. He was tiny enough to nuzzle against his neck without annoying Jim, his arms small, perfect size to fit between their chests, and his waist was just the size to have Jim wrap his arm around him without missing any spots.

James let out another shaky sigh before kissing Oswald's head. He was screwed. He was falling for Oswald like a rock falls down an abyss and he wasn't even trying to grab the edge. He was just accepting the fall, falling with pleasure in fact.

He couldn’t wait to get to the bottom and splatter around in many small unfixable pieces.

"James... you're thinking too loud" Oswald mumbled against his neck, and Jim chuckled quietly, looking down at him. "Go back to sleep..."

"How do you know I'm even thinking at all?" he asked, sliding his hand down Oswald's spine. It had a little curve in the middle. If he didn't take care of it, soon he would begin leaning over. Not good. Oswald just sighed at the soft touch and hummed, making himself a bit more comfortable against Jim.

"you tense up when you think. Woke me up" he said, slowly pushing his head away from its hiding spot and looking up at Jim. "Don't tell me you never noticed how tense you get every time you're solving math problems or something..."

"I do know that Oswald, I'm sorry for waking you up" he said, honestly, and Oswald shrugged, laying back down on the pillow but not hiding anymore. "Do we have any plans for today?"

"No... just eat and maybe check some clothes for Nygma, or maybe just play video games all day. Or we could study" he replied, shrugging again and smiling at Jim. "What do you want to do?"

Oswald's eyes were sparkly and they had some malice in them. James knew Oswald well. Too well in fact. He just chuckled, moving closer and pressing a kiss to Oswald's cheek before slowly getting up from the bed.

"Let's eat something. Then, I'm going to study. I should probably head home before lunch" he said, walking to the bathroom and being followed by Oswald, both of them washing their face and teeth.

It was so domestic. So weird. James felt at home, and at the same time, an intruder.

He didn't know how to deal with that.

They left the bathroom together, pulled on some clothes and walked downstairs to make them some breakfast. Oswald worked on the pancakes as Jim worked on the omelet and bacon, both of them mostly silent as they worked.

"Remember when we were kids? We used to do this all the time" Oswald said, sudden in the middle of the silence, and Jim looked at him with the corner of his eyes, curious. "We slept over, ate breakfast together, played to our hearts content... childhood was a nice time."

"It was" James agreed, turning his attention back to the omelet he was finishing up. "I wonder what happened to that childish innocence that we had... we are so different now."

Truth was, he had changed. Oswald, not so much.

"High school happened. High school always happens" Oswald said in a calm tone, putting the last of the pancakes on the plate and taking it to the table. "You followed your way and I followed mine and we grew apart, I guess."

"And now what are we doing?" James asked as he put the omelet and bacon on the table as well, and then turned to face Oswald, who looked at him right back. "Growing back together?"

"We are more like acquaintances than friends, so I wouldn't say we are growing back together" Oswald said, and his tone seemed cold underneath the careless expression he wore. Jim kept his sigh to himself. It was hard to deal with that situation they had.

"I think our paths like crossing" Jim said, pushing away the intrusive thoughts and stepping closer to Oswald. His hands slid around his waist and pulled him closer, and Oswald's reached to hold onto his hair, just the way he liked it. "I think they will keep crossing for a while at least."

"I'm not one to complain" Oswald purred, leaning close, standing on his tiptoes to kiss Jim again, sending him to a whole new level of heaven that he wasn’t already in. His arms tightened around the smaller boy, pulling him closer, his tongue licking over his bottom lip to ask passage, the kiss deepening to mouth movements and curving tongues.

It felt so fucking good, to have Oswald close to him like this. 

They only pulled away when they were breathless, but Jim couldn't stop, his mouth drifting down to kiss Oswald's jaw line and neck softly, all while Oswald let out soft breaths and chuckles.

"We should eat" he complained, or only half complained, because his fingers were threading around Jim's hair just the way to make him melt. Only Oswald could get it so right, his short nails doing exact pressure against his scalp to make James a soft mess. He didn't want it to stop, he didn't care about that god damned food.

"No" he replied softly against his skin, nibbling and sucking a few small marks, until Oswald tugged his hair and pulled his head back, making him whine quietly in both pain and something else.

"Eat" Oswald said, a playful smile on his lips before he pecked James and moved away. "Come on. Lets eat"

He sat down by the table and James sighed, dramatically, sitting down as well and serving himself. He just wanted more kisses and scalp massages.

Instead he got pancakes and bacon and omelet and a smiling Oswald, and maybe that was a bit better.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


End file.
